As director Emily Tomlins notes in the program, June is a monologue about not speaking.

The title character, interpreted by Melbourne theatre veteran Caroline Lee, emerges from a year of self-imposed silence to speak to us, the audience.

Over the course of 70 intimate, thought-provoking minutes, we are invited to meditate on her experiences and observations about life, and perhaps inevitably our own.

Caroline Lee, June. Photo supplied.

Written by Fabricated Rooms theatre company’s Artistic Director Patrick McCarthy, June slowly reveals why this middle-aged woman chose not to speak. She reflects on what that was like, including how others responded to her silence, how easy it is to get by in the modern world without uttering a word, and not being listened to when she did speak in the past. We get glimpses into her adult life: marriage, raising children, her mother’s illness.

The script gently layers words of wit and wisdom, moments of remembered joy and connection, but more often of hurt, anger, regret, grief and isolation. Reading it quiet solitude would surely reward with its insights about the human condition and beguiling turns of phrase, but in the hands of Lee...